It's planted too deep in soil that, I'm guessing, needs drainage material added to it. More sun is needed, for sure, and introduce to brighter light gradually. It grows best in full sun. Less water (actually 1x a month now) is suggested for the winter, and put it outside when it's warm again. If you look at the Aloe FAQ on this Forum you'll find more information, but the plant is eminently salvageable. Here is a link that might be useful: Aloe Info

Wow, Kelly you have definately been around the block. It is hard for me to put down a full list of my qualifications without including some of my brothers as well. Being as he has been in this business longer than myself. He (my brother) started cleaning pools back in 1986 working for a local company BRB. After high school he continued to clean pools but started his own company and his own routes. Over the next few years after that he ventured into service and repair side. He eventually sold his cleaning company and went to work for a commercial water management company as a service tec. While in commercial pool repair and water management he started building pools for some of the Execs of the company he worked for. Then for some of their clients and so on. From this is where our company started. I came into the picture in 1995 after going into the army and then to college (computer science degree go figure). Since 1995 we have taken a primarily commercial pool service company and created multiple divisions to serve all aspects of the pool industry. From pool residentual pool cleaning to complete nautatorium construction. Over the years we have both become certified or licenced in different areas of the field. I personally am a licenced plumber, a CPO, CPI, Certified diver, Tec II certified and licenced general contractor. He (my brother) has all the same quailifications except he is not a licenced plumber but a licenced electrician instead. We as a company are a warranty station for Raypak, Pentair, Hayward, and Zodiac(Jandy,Polaris ect.) as well. We have found the the more pools we build the more we want to be prepared for the time when this industry is regulated here in Texas. Most of our quaifications were needed to serve the commercial side of our company but you can see how beneficial these are to have on the residential side as well. We are not a high end builder even though we venture into the occasional $500,000 residentual pool. But more of a mid range builder. I drive by companies everyday that have these signs up (Build this pool $17,995). Has anyone heard of the bait and switch con game. This is it in its purest form. Can they build a pool for $18K, yes but you are going to get the worst equiptment, decking that will fall apart within a few years (if it even lasts that long) because there is not rebar in it but in some cases a chicken wire instead or its only 2" thick(yes I have seen this). I have even seen thinwall piping used instead of schedule 40 (I am busting up a deck right now to replace all the plumbing around a pool because of this). How about 1/2" thick flagstone coping(who the builder said this how all builders do it). This is only the beginning. I could go on and on and on. I have no problem with anyone coming into this business and starting a (legitimate) company but I am very, very picky when it comes to the quality that I see in the finished product and I will point out poor quality in material or workmanship whenever I see it done by anyone including my own guys(who all know what its like to rip it out and do it again because I didn't like it). I don't claim to be an expert in anything I mean I think that I just about learn something new everyday in this field. I still take some of my inspiration from other companies builds or designs. Even you Kelly. lol. Love some of your recent designs by the way. This all being said I take this business very serious. Not only is this my career but this is my entire families bread and butter. If I don't succeed then I have to answer to them. Sorry for the rambling on, David

I'd try to zero in on the area that you like and then call real estate agents there. Find one that you get along with before you go off with any of them. Then you can ask questions. If you garden and have dogs, a planned community might not be your cup of tea, especially if there are rules about number and size of dogs. (We also have multiple dogs.) You can get a lot of great info by using Realtor.com (actual RE listings, and not Zillow) and plugging in the desired zip codes. And check out the Buying/Selling home forum, too. Nice people there. Here is a link that might be useful: Buying and selling homes forum

Beautiful picture! What are you using to print it with? I tried it with Windows Print Wizard and it printed exactly at 7x5. That would be 7" across and 5" up & down...is that what you are trying for? I am using XP, and I assume you have VISTA, so I don't know if the Print Wizard is different, but I will go through how I did it. I right clicked on the file (I saved it from here) and selected PRINT. I clicked NEXT until I go to the window that said LAYOUT SELECTION and I chose 5x7. It rotated and cropped the print automatically and printed it perfectly without cutting anything off (although I think it may have cropped just a slight amount off - as the dimensions on the picture I saved aren't a true 5x7). Then I just clicked next to continue through the print wizard until the photo printed. I chose to print 1 picture, but you can have it print two 5x7 on one page if you want...just put 2 in the number of copies to print at the bottom of the LAYOUT SELECTION window.